Leslie's Review: Blaze (or Love in the Time of Supervillains) by Laurie Boyle Crompton

Monday, February 4, 2013

ARC: 316 pagesPublisher: SourcebooksRelease Date: February 1, 2013
ISBN: 9781402273436Source of my copy: publisher
Series: none
Synopsis (from Goodreads)Blaze is tired of spending her life on the sidelines, drawing comics and feeling invisible. She's desperate for soccer star Mark to notice her. And when her BFF texts Mark a photo of Blaze in sexy lingerie, it definitely gets his attention. After a hot date in the back of her minivan, Blaze is flying high, but suddenly Mark's feelings seem to have been blasted by a freeze-ray gun, and he dumps her. Blaze gets her revenge by posting a comic strip featuring uber-villain Mark the Shark. Mark then retaliates by posting her "sext" photo, and, overnight, Blaze goes from Super Virgin Girl to Super Slut. That life on the sidelines is looking pretty good right about now...

Leslie's Review:
The blurb on the back of the ARC copy my sister and I received was pretty vague so I had no idea what to expect from Blaze. I was also in a bit of a reading slump as I was started Blaze, which caused me to have a slow start in reading it. Fortunately, this book turned out to be a great read!

At first, I was a little annoyed by the main character Blaze. Although I loved her comic-love geekiness, her naiveness and desperation in the beginning of the book irked me. After reading the first couple chapters, I already knew that Mark was bad news and that Blaze can do so much better. It was hard watching her drool and obsess over Mark while he used her and I just wanted to reach inside the book and shake and talk some sense into Blaze. Thankfully, she eventually realized Mark for who he really was. After that I rooted for her throughout the rest of the book as she became stronger, tougher, and wiser. And I especially supported and admired Blaze for her courage and perseverance when times got rough. She was a great and a refreshingly different heroine to read about (and brownie points for her for her awesome name).

I absolutely loved Blaze's "Soccer Cretins"--her brother Josh, and his friends Andrew, Dylan and Ajay. They were the greatest bunch of 13-year-old soccer boys I've ever heard and read of. I loved how they supported and protected Blaze in their own touching yet adolescent-boyish way, especially Josh, who became my favorite character in the book. I really liked his and Blaze's sibling relationship.

Blaze turned out to be a surprisingly great read--the plot was interesting and great, although it did drag a little at times and the climax came later than I hoped; the writing style was good and understandable; and the narration (Blaze's voice) really reflected Blaze's character, down to the geeky-ish talk and comic book references, which I thought were entertaining (and thank goodness each reference was explained because otherwise I, a non-comic book reader, would have been completely lost). I recommend Laurie Crompton's debut novel Blaze to anyone who loves comics and/or a fun read about a geeky and awesome girl.

How wonderful! I have this book on my wishlist but I was worried about the whole throwing yourself at someone unworthy thing (most times it makes for a painful reading experience). I'm glad to know that the rest of the book is worth getting through that.

I've been so curious about Blaze! Like you said, the synopsis is a bit vague so it's hard to know what to expect. Glad that you loved it for the most part. :) The Soccer Cretins part made me laugh! Hehe! Can't wait to read it. :)